New offshore seismic testing for oil in the south

In 2007, the Providence Energy Group was awarded a five hundred and thirty-one square mile concession area for oil exploration and production rights in southern Belize. The drilling rights cover both on and offshore blocks near the Gulf of Honduras, from Punta Gorda to New Haven, as well as the southeast of Glovers Reef. The agreement stipulates that the company has eight years to explore and twenty-five years for each oil field discovered. The concession awarded to Providence was one of several granted for on and offshore drilling that was challenged in the Supreme Court. Despite the contracts being declared null and void, the company is proceeding with seismic testing in early 2014. According to Director of Petroleum, Andre Cho, Providence is in the initial phase of conducting an environmental impact assessment.

Andre Cho, Director of Petroleum

Andre Cho

“Providence is in the process of starting an EIA for them to carry out seismic survey over a very large structure they’ve identified from an aeromagnetic survey. I think Providence plans to shoot about a hundred and fifty kilometer seismic over this structure to confirm that it’s there and drill it possibly from an on-land location. So they won’t be drilling offshore. They need to get the EIA going, they have some few delays which we are assisting them to get over and then they should start the EIA early next year hopefully, once they get the go ahead from the Department of the Environment and by the end of the year they should have completed the seismic and confirm if the structure is there and possibly drill in 2015. It’s a very large structure so if it’s full of oil it would be a very significant discovery for the country and it would be able to be produced from an onshore location. So far that’s what we’ve been looking at.”

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